Education Collaboratory Members Join IES - Funded Education Summer Training Programs

This summer, Drs. Michael McCarthy and Sophie Barnes, postdoctoral associates at the Education Collaboratory at Yale, will join two prestigious IES-funded training programs geared at developing the next generation of education researchers.

Drs. McCarthy and Barnes have been accepted into the IES Methods Training in Economic Evaluation, a competitive program hosted by the Center for Benefit-Cost Studies of Education at the University of Pennsylvania. The training will take place in person from June 2-6, 2025.

Funded by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), this week-long program is designed to build researchers’ capacity to apply cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit analysis in education research. These methods are essential for understanding not only whether a program works, but how efficiently it uses resources, an increasingly important consideration in education policy and practice.

Participants will engage in hands-on workshops and lectures led by a team of experts in economic evaluation, including Dr. Brooks Bowden, Dr. Clive Belfield, Dr. Rob Shand, and Dr. Viviana Rodriguez. The training also provides structured time to apply these methods to participants' own research projects.

Now in its tenth year, the IES Methods Training has supported more than 200 researchers across the U.S. in integrating economic analysis into education research. The program covers tuition and lodging for participants and encourages collaborative, applied learning.

More information can be found at cbcse.org/ies-methods-training.

Dr. Barnes will also be attending the IES-funded Meta-Analysis Training Institute (MATI) from July 28-August 1, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. This intensive workshop, led by Dr. Terri Pigott and colleagues, will cover advanced meta-analytic techniques and the implementation of these methods in R. Overall, this training program equips participants with the advanced knowledge, practical skills, and project management techniques necessary to excel in meta-analysis research, making it an indispensable resource for statisticians, researchers, and academics.

More information can be found at https://www.meta-analysis-training-institute.com/.

These federally-funded programs are designed to deepen scholars’ methodological skills, connect them with national networks, and support research that drives real-world impact in classrooms and communities across the nation. Federal training programs like these play a vital role in cultivating rigorous, evidence-based education research to inform practice and policy. We’re proud to see Mike and Sophie represent the EdCollab and continue advancing the science of learning through these opportunities.